| Can I Come Look At These Items? | | This online store is in association with Amazon.com, so these great, high-qualiy products will come from their warehouse or from other partners. Thanks for shopping! |
|
|
|
History of Philosophy, Volume 1 (History of Philosophy) | 
 enlarge | Author: Frederick Copleston
Publisher: Image
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy Used: $2.95
You Save: $16.00 (84%)
New (34) Used (45) Collectible (3) from $2.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 76734
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0385468431
Dewey Decimal Number: 190
EAN: 9780385468435
ASIN: 0385468431
Publication Date: March 1, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: EARLIER PRINTING. 1962 printing with some normal aging, writing inside front cover, but no marks or highlighting otherwise. FAST shipping!!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Conceived originally as a serious presentation ofthe development of philosophy for Catholicseminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volumeA History Of Philosophy hasjourneyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author touniversal acclaim as the best history ofphilosophy in English.
Copleston, an Oxford Jesuitof immense erudition who once tangled with A. J.Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of Godand the possibility of metaphysics, knew thatseminary students were fed a woefully inadequate dietof theses and proofs, and that their familiaritywith most of history's great thinkers was reducedto simplistic caricatures. Copleston set out toredress the wrong by writing a complete history ofWestern philosophy, one crackling with incident andintellectual excitement -- and one that gives fullplace to each thinker, presenting his thought in abeautifully rounded manner and showing his linksto those who went before and to those who cameafter him.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 When I get around to reading it September 29, 2008
I read a few pages in the library and said, I should get this book. Too bad I don't have time to read it.
The journey begins. Absolutely fantastic. Five plus stars. June 2, 2008
I have the 15 volume paperback set of Copleston's masterpiece published in the seventies by Doubleday under the Image Books edition. Over the years I have read and enjoyed the volumes but never studied them in a systematic manner. Well now that time permits my journey to reacquaint myself with this gem has begun and I have finished volume One, Part One, Greece and Rome. What a treat.
Copleston presents a detailed but very accessible history of western philosophy. Starting with the cradle of western thought - Ionia; all the way through Plato, I was richly rewarded by Copleston's writing and presentation style. Yes, the author's initial intended audience was seminarians of the Jesuit persuasion and consequently much of the writing is slanted in that direction. However, having that caveat in mind the material is superb and very enobling.
My goal is to systematically absorb three volumes a year and complete the set in five years. I did notice that having read the work many moons ago (early to mid seventies); does make it easier to absorb AND appreciate.
Just a fantastic set. Five stars do not do justice.
Just what I needed March 30, 2008
In wasn't until I began reading this book that I realized this is what I've been looking for for 20 years - I just wouldn't have been ready to read it 20 years ago. The author covers all the important points of each philosopher concisely so as not to get bogged down. He leaves out his own opinions which makes reading this more enjoyable.
Most of these ancient philosophers were just names to me, but now I know what they thought and their importance in Western philosophy, which has opened up a whole new area of study for me. I feel closer to them.
Can you imagine a history of philosohpy to be easy and enjoyable reading!
Quite simply, excellent. September 11, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is quite simply the most informative, concise, and accurate review and history of philosophy I have ever read. After reading even just one volume of this series you will feel confident enough to hold a discussion with even a learned scholar on the topic you have just read, whether it is volume one, on Rome and Greece, or volume two on the medieval philosophy or even modern philosophy. Think no more, buy this series, in its entirety, you will not be sorry.
Wrestling with the Great Thinkers - Greece and Rome September 4, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is the first volume in Frederick Copleston's classic nine volume A History of Philosophy. Like all the volumes in this series, it is an exhaustive study of the period covered and presents the development of the philosophical thought of the period as an interrelated whole where trends ebb and flow as ideas are introduced and synthesized within the systems of the great thinkers of the time.
All of this is done within a framework where Copleston, as a professor in a Catholic seminary, is mindful of pointing out the elements that would become adopted within the framework of Christian philosophy and theology. Even though Copleston has a seminary audience in mind, he does not attempt to "Christianize" those who were not Christian nor launch polemical attacks against those ideas at odds with the Christian faith. He presents the philosophical ideas thoroughly and fairly and gives both the supporting evidence cited by supporters and the critiques by opponents. Also pointed out in detail is how each philosopher's work influenced contemporaries and later thought with, of course, special consideration of the influence for good or bad on Christianity.
In this volume, the subject is the philosophy of Greece and Rome. Copleston divides the book into five parts covering pre-Socratic philosophy, the Socratic period, Plato, Aristotle, and post-Aristoelian philosophy. A strength of his treatment is that the figures of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle no longer seem isolated giants but are shown to arise from the action and reaction in a whole line of Greek thinkers of which they are the most illustrious examples. And though they are deservedly given the greatest emphaisis, the work of other Greek philosophers are also given extensive coverage that is rarely found elsewhere.
When dealing with the three giants, Copleston thoroughly covers how each in succession influeced the other and how each in turn fleshed out ideas in their teacher and took them in a direction that would not have found favor with their mentor. The development of Socrates' questioning to Plato's ethereal world of forms to Aristotle's reaction in a more observationally based direction demonstrates the volatile mix of ideas as various thinkers fleshed out their theories in an intellectually stimulating environment.
There are also fascinating items in the lesser known philosophers of the period. Since Socrates did not author any works himself, his philosophy has primarily been communicated to us by his student Plato. It is interesting to note other students of his also wrote of his philosophy and much of the details present a somewhat different figure from that given in the Platonic corpus. Also of interest is the work in the post-Aristotelian philosophy where a mix of Neo-Platonism, Aristotelianism, and the philosophy of Hellenized Jews formed a basis for the exposition of the Christian faith in the precise technical language that would come to be used in the Ecumenical Councils.
For a thorough investigation of the history of Western philosophical thought and a wrestling with the great thinkers of the Western philosophical tradition, there is no better choice that Copleston's A History of Philosophy. For the Christian, in particular, who wishes to understand the interaction of philsophy and Christian theology, this work is unparalleled.
|
|
|
| |
News 
